Critical Information for the Traveling Public

Boeing 757 plane crashes

The following are significant safety or security related occurrences involving the 757.
Numbered events involve the death of at least one passenger, and all events meet criteria set by AirSafe.com

2 October 1990; China Southern Airlines 757-200; Guanghou Airport, China:The 757 was struck on the ground by a hijacked Xiamen Airlines 737-200 that was attempting to land.
There were 46 fatalities among the 110 passengers.

20 December 1995; American Airlines 757-200; near Buga, Colombia:The aircraft crashed into Mt. San Jose at night at about the 9,000 foot level while descending into Cali, Colombia after its flight from Miami.
All 8 crew and 155 of the 159 passengers were killed in the crash.
Colombian civil aviation authorities report that at the time of the accident, all navigational beacons were fully serviceable and that the aircraft voice and data recorders did not indicate any aircraft problems.

6 February 1996; Birgenair (Alas Nacionales) 757-200; Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic: The chartered aircraft crashed in the ocean several miles from shore shortly after night time departure for Germany.
All 176 passengers and 13 crew were killed.
The aircraft reportedly had not flown in the two weeks prior to the accident.
Alas Nacionales, a Dominican Republic airline, charted the 757 from Birgenair, a Turkish owned airline, for the flight to Germany.
At the time, all airlines from the Dominican Republic were not allowed by the US government to fly to the U.S. because of sanctions imposed by the FAA Foreign Assessment Program.
Related NTSB safety recommendations

2 October 1996; Aero Peru Boeing 757-200; near Ancon, Peru:The aircraft was on a flight from Lima, Peru to Santiago, Chile.
Shortly after takeoff, the crew reported some sort of mechanical failure.
Contact was lost with the aircraft and the aircraft crashed at sea.
All nine crew members and 61 passengers were killed.

2 August 1997; Continental Airlines Boeing 757-200; Lima, Peru:During passenger boarding, an elderly passenger in a wheelchair was assisted up the rear portable stairs by a gate agent. The passenger was instructed by the gate agent to remain at the top of the steps while the agent loaded the wheelchair into the cargo bin. However, the passenger continued to walk into the aircraft, through the aft galley and then through the catering door. The passenger fell to the tarmac through a space between the catering truck and the airplane.
The passenger died from the fall injuries.
The eight crew members and 141 other passengers were not injured.
Note: Spillable batteries are normally not allowed on aircraft unless they are part of an electric wheelchair being used by a passenger.

14 September 1999; Britannia Airways 757; G-BYAG; flight 226A; The Pentagon, Arlington, VA:
The aircraft was on a charter flight from Cardiff, Wales (UK) to Girona, Spain, and had a runway overrun at Girona.
There were two serious injuries among the nine crew members and 230 passengers.
One of the passengers who appeared to sustain only a minor injury died five days after the accident due to unsuspected internal injuries.
Wikipedia entry for this event

11 September 2001; American Airlines 757; flight 77; The Pentagon, Arlington, VA:
The aircraft was on a scheduled domestic flight from Dulles airport in outside of Washington, DC to Los Angeles, CA when it was hijacked and flown into the Pentagon, collapsing part of the structure.
All six crew members, 53 passengers, and five hijackers were killed.
Attack on New York and WashingtonWikipedia Entry for this Event

11 September 2001; United Airlines 757; Flight 93; near Shanksville, PA:
The aircraft was on a flight from Newark to San Francisco when it was hijacked. The hijackers apparently intended to fly the aircraft to the Washington, DC area in order to crash the aircraft into an unspecified target.
However, on the way to Washington, DC, some of the passengers became aware of the likely intentions of the hijackers and attempted to commandeer the aircraft. The aircraft crashed, either due to actions of the pilots or the actions of the passengers, about 150 miles from Washington.
All seven crew members, 34 passengers, and four hijackers were killed.
Attack on New York and WashingtonWikipedia Entry for this Event

1 July 2002; DHL 757; near Üeberlingen, Germany:The aircraft collided with a Bashkirian Airlines Tupolev 154 while both aircraft were flying at about 36,000 feet (about 11,000 meters).
Debris from both aircraft fell in an area near Lake Constance on the German-Swiss border.
Both crew members on the DHL 757 and the 57 passengers and 12 crew members on the Tupolev 154 were killed.
The 57 passengers on the Tupolev 154 included 52 children and teenagers.
The 757 departed Bahrain and was continuing on to Brussels after a stop in Bergamo in northern Italy.
The Tupolev 154 was on a trip from Moscow to Barcelona and had made a stopover in Munich shortly before the accident.Fatal Midair Collision EventsFatal Events for Airlines of the Former Soviet Union

7 December 2005; American Airlines 757; Flight 924; Miami, Fl:
The aircraft had arrived from Medellin, Colombia, and was on a roughly two hour stopover in Miami before continuing to Orlando.
It is alleged that one of the passengers, a 44-year old U.S. citizen, claimed to have a bomb in his carry on luggage.
Air marshals confronted the man on the jetway and shot him after he appeared to reach into his bag.
The man died sometime later as a result of his wounds. No explosive was found in the bag.
It was reported that this passenger had previously arrived in Miami on an American flight from Quito, Ecuador and had cleared U.S. customs before boarding the Orlando flight.
No one else was injured in this event. This is the first time sine 9/11 that air marshals have fired a weapon on or near an aircraft.
Because this passenger death was due at least in part to the deliberate actions of that passenger, this does not constitute a fatal event as defined by AirSafe.com.
Wikipedia Entry for this Event